Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla Offers Injury Timeline For Kristaps Porzingis
The Celtics won’t have Kristaps Porzingis in the lineup for Game 5 on Wednesday, but his status for the rest of the NBA playoffs is unclear.
Porzingis suffered a right soleus strain or a calf strain in Boston’s game Game 4 over the Miami Heat at Kaseya Center. The 28-year-old missed multiple games this season due to a left calf strain and a hamstring injury.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday the star big man will miss “several weeks” due to his injury, but that isn’t a clear timeline for his return. The Athletic’s Shams Charania on Wednesday added Porzingis likely will miss one or two weeks. Head coach Joe Mazzulla hopes to have better answers next week.
“I don’t know the specifics of it. They used a lot of fancy words, but I do know it will be kind of reevaluated next week,” Mazzula said Wednesday on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand.” “We’ll see how he responds to treatment, how much he gets there in the first week, but I think that’s kind of the goal is to just get crazy in the next week and see where we’re at from there.”
Mazzulla revealed Porzingis informed the bench of his ailment, but he continued to battle it out until the next whistle. The Celtics head coach was appreciative of his star’s effort and was confident in his players’ ability to step up for the rest of the first-round series.